This is Colony.

A platform for open organizations.

Open Organizations

We believe that the most successful organizations of the future will be open.

Openness is not about open plan offices or '20% time'. It's about how decisions get made, how labor is divided, and who controls the purse strings.

In an open organization, you're empowered to do the work you care about, not just what you're told to do. Decisions are made openly and transparently. Influence is earned by consistently demonstrating just how damn good you are. It means everyone's incentives are aligned, because ownership is open to all.

And that means opportunity is open to all, and a new world of possibility opens up.

Colony is infrastructure for the future of work: self-organizing companies that run via software, not paperwork.

Open Organizations

Ownership according to contribution

Ownership according to contribution, overview

A colony is a new kind of internet based organization. It could be a community project, a company, or a non-profit — your imagination is the only limit.

Ownership according to contribution, tokens

Every colony has its own token. You earn tokens by doing work. The more tokens you hold, the more of the colony you own.

Ownership according to contribution, rewards

Tokens let you stake your ownership on your good judgement when proposing tasks, or claiming someone should be paid.

Influence according to merit

Influence according to merit, flexibility

You choose what you work on. It doesn’t matter where you live, or who you know — only how good you are.

Influence according to merit, skills

Doing great work earns you reputation for the skills you used and domains in which you contributed.

Influence according to merit, reputation

The more reputation you earn, the more influence you have on decisions relevant to your expertise.

Fair Reward

If you’re a member of a colony which makes money, you can claim a share of the money it makes proportional to the tokens and reputation you hold.

Through the magic of smart contracts, everything happens automatically. Huzzah! No need to chase accounts for payment!

Fair Reward

Permissive by default

Permissive by default

Voting has a place in collective decision making, but that place is not in day to day operations.

Colonies are designed to be permissive — voting is rarely necessary. People can propose work, get domains and tasks funded, and get paid without constantly needing to get everyone’s permission.

Dispute and Resolution

Dispute and Resolution

Self regulatory mechanisms provide incentives for being good, and disincentives to be naughty.

If something does go wrong, and it can’t be resolved informally, resolution procedures provide a full, binding, and decentralised means of settling the dispute.

Your Colony, your rules

One size does not fit all.

What works for a decentralised open source project may not be suitable for a design agency, a multinational bank, or a virtual world.

That’s why Colony is modular and customisable for the needs of open organizations of all kinds.

Your Colony, your rules

Ethereum logo

Powered by Ethereum

We see our tools as infrastructure for open organizations.

Infrastructure should be impartial and reliable.

One organization should not be beholden to, or have to trust another, in order to confidently conduct their business.

That’s why the Colony protocol is built as open source smart contracts on the Ethereum network.